#mporeplies

OMG the very fact that YOU'RE in my inbox makes me wanna cry! 🥹🥹🥹 I'm always supporting you and your art! It's amazing! Please keep doing what you do!

I’ve came across your blog while I started reading Given and having questions about the manga.

I would like to know about your idea of Uenoyama, I have read your thoughts to all the post pinned, but I have still something unfinished with him.

I do really like his character even though is soo different from me and I will go to the extend to say that is probably one of my favourite.

I feel that his pain hasn’t been talked much, there are moments here and there, also when he says that ‘he will never be him’ (which hurts so bad) but all those chapters were focused on the healing journey of Mafuyu. We really never knew if Uenoyama had overcome those insecurities. He is a teenager who lost interest in anything, meets Mafuyu and falls in love with him (so we have this big new feeling), then he starts playing with enthusiasm again, then somehow not only starts dealing with his feelings but also the ones Mafuyu has for Yuki, and he is dealing with them silently (and let's remember at the beginning of the manga he didn't seem to feel much and all of sudden he's bombarded by all these new emotions which are not only his and he's just a teenager 😭 ). He is dealing with the distance between him and Mafuyu silently too. When he finished the song and the manga ended I felt uncompleted. Will he ever feel completely loved by Mafuyu or he just accept what Mafuyu can give to him? Will he always feel the shadow of Yuki between them? Is he happy with it? Will he ever feel that he ‘needs’ to be like Yuki? Is he still insecure? Is even fair to live with the shadow of the first love of YOUR first love?

Something I noticed is that when the second song came out I thought it was for him but then I realised it was more for UgetsuxAkihikoxHaruki with some similarity between him and Uenoyama, but in the song, there still is a second person, it is not fully a romantic song as I originally thought, there is still this shadow. So I went to check if there was actually any song for him and even though there is, in one part it says ‘with you I can go through another winter’ or something similar and I felt again, this shadow still present. It might be something silly and probably the character of Uenoyama would not think about it or would just accept it, but I felt that even though he was loved, the love he receives has a filter to it, he loves Mafuyu fully but will he ever be just loved? Or he’s going to be always someone who surely helps Mafuyu overcome or deal with his trauma and current boyfriend, but will he ever just be his lover? Can he just be him only (I'm not sure if I explained myself well)? I felt that between Akihiko and Haruki there wasn't the presence of Ugetsu when they got together (even if I still think that Haruki is uncompleted as well). I understand of course the trauma of Mafuyu and that he's paying attention to not make the same mistakes but-

I don't know there are a lot of things about Uenoyama's feelings I don't understand. For some reason when I think about him, my heart aches although he's loved.

I wish the sequel would talk about these more but I'm not sure if it's going to focus on that. Sorry I kinda ended up writing too much

Hello! I'm good thank you!

Thanks for stopping by my blog. I'll keep my answer short because I feel like a lot of the questions you posed will be answered in this new sequel manga, Given 10th Mix. I have a huge feeling that we will get a lot more about Ritsuka's struggles. I completely feel you, I thought a lot of his feelings and emotions were left unresolved and then when Kizu announced the sequel, I was so relieved! So yeah, basically I agree with everything and now I think all we can do is keep our eyes peeled. Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I'll also do a first impressions of the first chapter soon! And I'll touch on many of the things you mentioned! Please look out for that! I hope that you're having a lovely day!

____

Thanks for the ask! It has been a while! I was going to do a proper analysis of the songs once I've seen the mix movie but I thought I might share some initial observations for Straight!

EASTER EGGS in SYH's STRAIGHT

Mafuyu's key in C minor, the relative minor key. The song is in Eb major, the relative major key. It's also what I call the sunshine key (Uenoyama's key) ☀️ which is the same key as all the songs on the Given mini-album release.

Chorus 0:22 has the same chord progression as the first part of Fuyunohanashi, which can indicate that Hiiragi and Shizu are also trying their best to heal from Yuki. Seriously, try singing the chorus of Fuyunohanashi on top of Straight's first chorus, they literally layer perfectly on top of each other!!!

CHORDS ARE SO INTERESTING HERE

Chord progression diverges from Fuyunohanashi in the second part of the chorus 0:41 to go from VI -> VII -> I, which is the same tiers di picardie chordal progression as Kizuato's (Given OP) ending as well as Yorugaakeru!!! This chord progression finishes in major to show that the boys are healing from Yuki and trauma.

Lyrics in that chord progression are super meaningful here

Kizuato "Whatever you left behind has now become my life".

Also Yoorugaakeru lyrics are "Look this Dawn is about to break that's why it'll be ok"

Straight: "I will keep singing until it reaches you"

Doesn't that sound like Hiiragi/Yuki/Uenoyama talking directly to Mafuyu???!! 🥹😭❤️🙏

Guitar Solo by Uenoyama has a delicious easter egg

1:01 same as the lyrics "Time and Time again" in Given's mini album track stagekara kiminisasagu. Meaning that time and time again he'll be here for Mafuyu ❤️😭

I am almost 100% certain that every other part of that solo is a reference to lyrics in Given songs because all the other bits are so I'll have to have another proper listen.

That's it! Hope this made sense coming from a music nerd's ramblings! ____

Ah yes welcome to the endless abyss that is the pain and beauty of Given! 🔥🔥🔥

Thanks for reading my metas! Im just back for chillz since there has been so much development with the new Mix movie and the follow-up Manga!

Hello! Thank you for being patient, I am back! I personally think that mix_18/chapter 48 was done ✨~SUPERBLY~✨. @morievna captures it pretty perfectly in her meta on Mix 18. I believe that Ugetsu was very much in character and he is, as you said, displaying some differences due to his growth as a character.

GIVEN | Ugetsu 1.0 and 2.0 similarities and differences

Remember, Ugetsu and Mafuyu are 🎶MUSICAL MIRRORS 🎶  because they both use music as an outlet to express, understand their own AND other people's emotions. Ugetsu therefore knows that Mafuyu NEEDS to attend the SYH concert in order to know how he is feeling.

Ugetsu and Mafuyu's mentorship is mostly Ugetsu taking the lead to drive Mafuyu to confront music. So Ugetsu has always been quite energetic when it comes to talking to Mafuyu.

Code_16 Ugetsu 1.0

Mix_17/Chapter 47 Ugetsu 2.0 👇

However, the energetic attitude back then was laced with criticism and a bitter pain. His liveliness was lined with a sense of falsehood. We see that in Code_16/Chapter 16, Ugetsu 1.0 who organised the Tchaikovsky tickets for Mafuyu and Akihiko. However Ugetsu liked inspiring by showing Mafuyu how cool he was at the violin concert, he was hoping for Mafuyu to also join the "lonely genius bubble" club, to become like himself, to rely solely on music to process trauma and communicate with others to avoid difficult conversations.

Mafuyu doesn't want to turn out like Ugetsu 1.0. And just like you said, having moved on and moved forward with his life in growing outside of his own codependent relationship with Kaji, Ugetsu 2.0 here realises that this

1. stagnation of feeling he has to choose between Akihiko and music 2. never properly communicated with Akihiko on how the other party was feeling

that led to their toxic relationship. Ugetsu smiles knowing that Mafuyu doesn't quite understand that yet. Then Ugetsu says,

"Either way, there is no going back for me."

and later on

"Didn't you pretty much neglect factoring what the other party thinks about this?

Ugetsu is hoping that Mafuyu will learn in his own time that being in shutdown and avoid the other party will ultimately make Mafuyu end up like him. So it's not too late for Mafuyu and Uenoyama!

What Ugetsu 2.0 does differently is rather than showing off or critiquing, he tells Mafuyu:

how he is not great and still working on building his human relationships and taking care of himself

how he has no idea what the future holds, maybe he'll be in NY longterm, he doesn't know

shows vulnerability but is being a realist that he can't go back in time to change things with Akihiko.

What he demonstrates here is the imperfect humanness of being a professional musician. Professional musicians don't have certainty and don't have it all together. He is telling Mafuyu that uncertainty about life is perfectly normal. Ugetsu also knows that Mafuyu, just like himself, connect with others best through music. So if Mafuyu wants to figure his feelings and connect with Ue, he NEEDS to go to the concert. But Mafuyu is putting too much pressure on this event to give him complete clarity. Pre-debut and post-debut is still full on uncertainty. So why not just "learn more about it?" Why not just listen?

I find it so funny that Mafuyu says "did you even hear me" because Ugetsu has been the best listener and actively doing something to help him. Ugetsu is still musically driving Mafuyu to confront music like before. However, he doesn't place himself on a pedestal for Mafuyu, or let Mafuyu process music on his own (like in CODE 17)

or feed into the unhealthy mindset of the "lonely genius".

He holds Mafuyu's hand to face the music together.

Just a sidenote but I LOVE that even though Ugetsu is running and leading Mafuyu, look at how gently he holds Mafuyu's wrist. 🥺 It's like he is holding a new violin bow, understanding how delicate Mafuyu's temperament is right now 😭😭😭

Also observe how tenderly and genuinely Ugetsu smiles now compared to before. It's now grounded in wisdom and self-reflection. Kudos Ugetsu 2.0 also being able to listen to Mafuyu talk about his issues while before, he tended to emotionally dump on Mafuyu about his own issues.

Of course what I love is that the crowd then separates the two and and Mafuyu is pushed further to the front. Ugetsu reassures Mafuyu that he is strong enough as an individual to face Uenoyama, paralleling the "It's okay" in Code_27 where Mafuyu first said to him that he is strong enough as an individual to face a life without Akihiko.

To summarise, Ugetsu in my opinion was very much in character and displayed tremendous growth. We can all learn from Ugetsu:

Face changes in life with vigour and keep facing it despite feeling scared, uncertain and unclear. Change is just a fact of life. Avoidance, rumination and stagnation makes things worse.

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If you like what you read, all I post is basically Given analysis content!

Hello friend! Thank you! Hope you are having a good one too! I'd like to point you towards this meta of mine, Discovering the true intention behind Shizu’s actions in Mix_8 completely changed how I saw the Shizuragi ship! This meta, although it doesn't address your question directly, I think it clears a lot of things up so PLEASE READ before proceeding.

Shizu and Yuki's relationship explained

In my opinion, Kizu never fully goes into the details of the dynamics between Shizu and Yuki but out of everyone, Shizu felt least close to Yuki compared to Mafuyu and Hiiragi. Shizu feels like

Yuki adopted the abandoned Pomeranian and calico cat and he's just tagging along. But Shizu feels like he doesn't belong to the squad/isn't as close to Yuki is his own doing due to:

his own abandonment issues resultant from being a LITERAL foster child

him joining the childhood squad later than the rest of the three

thinking that his three friends as being better than him from birth.